Tag Archives: Mumbai

Dubai Business Events (DBE) has showcased the city’s capabilities and services to business event planners during a a three-city roadshow in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, attracting an attendance of approximately 490 business events and incentive buyers as well as wedding planners. DBE was joined on the roadshow by a number of stakeholders from Dubai, including Dubai Parks and Resorts, Jumeirah Hotels and Emaar Hospitality. The roadshow offered a platform for the DBE team to meet and engage with key decision makers, educate them about the services available to them, and detail how the convention bureau can support in planning their events in Dubai. Attendees were also able to discover Dubai and the world-class factors that combine to make the city a premier destination to host business events. Over the coming months, DBE and stakeholders from the city will conduct further in-market activities in UK, Sweden, Finland and Russia while also continuing to welcome business event planners for study missions from around the world to Dubai.

Uzbekistan airways has announced direct flights to Tashkent from Mumbai, effective October 30, 2018 with a frequency of three times a week. This makes Mumbai the third Indian destination on the airline’s network, along with Delhi and Amritsar. The airline will be flying its A320 aircraft on this route on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Uzbekistan airways is promoted by Delmos Aviation, GSA for the airline in India since 2003 headed by Dr Naveen Rao, Director, Delmos Aviation headquartered in New Delhi.

The Wallonia Foreign Trade along with Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (AWEX) recently took a tourism mission to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi. The Consulate General of Belgium, AWEX and BIE in association with Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) organised the event for its members in Mumbai. Nine delegates from different tourism attractions from Brussels and Wallonia (Southern Belgium) presented its undiscovered and unique tourist attractions to the TAAI members. The delegation also visited top tour operators in the city. Peter Huyghebaert, Consul General, AWEX Team; Emmanuelle Timmermans, Trade and Investment Commissioner, and Dominique Andre from Wallonia Belgium Tourism, joined Ellona Pereira, India Director, Visit Brussels, for the roadshow. Also part of the delegation were Albert Joris from Caves of Han, Catherine Vuidar from Euro Space Center, Rodolphe Brohée from Durbuy, Malati Dasi and Martin Gurvich from Radhadesh Castle, Jérôme Aussems from Ardennes Incoming and Steven Truyman from Hey Belgium. Top tour operators from Mumbai and Pune attended this event.

Showcasing Sri Lanka as a ‘must-visit’ tourist destination, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau successfully concluded its three city roadshow held in Pune, Rajkot and Surat. Over 100 trade partners attended the event and interacted with close to 24+ Sri Lankan delegates comprising hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions and DMCs. Sri Lanka has seen a substantial growth in tourist arrivals from India in the year 2017 with over 384,000 Indian travellers. The destination has already recorded a growth of 15.3 per cent during the first half of 2018 compared with the same period last year. Chamari Rodrigo, Consulate General, Sri Lanka High Commission in Mumbai said, “India topped the number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka at 206,337 followed by Chinese tourists at 136,294. We strongly believe that there is a huge potential in this market and we aim to go all out to reach out to the audience across India. The seven city roadshow is one of the major activities Sri Lanka tourism conducted to ensure that key Indian travel and trade personnel  maintain a close relationship with Sri Lanka’s tourism industry partners.” Viranga Bandara, Assistant Director – Marketing, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said, “Our primariy objective for the year is to reach out to the potential travellers and showcase various attractions the destination offers. Its important as a tourism board to ensure our trade partners are well updated with the latest developments, be it visa processing, special packages, new hotel launches, etc.”  

Continuing its focus on growing its domestic presence, Jet Airways is set to introduce 28 new flights in the coming month. Jet Airways’ new services – including industry firsts as well as a mix of non-stop and one-stop flights – will strengthen the airline’s footprint, enabling it to meet the rising demand for domestic and international air travel in emerging cities. The new services will also help connect guests with other cities including metros as well as the airline’s global network via its hubs in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. In a series of industry-firsts, Jet Airways will introduce daily flights from Indore, connecting the ‘largest city in Madhya Pradesh’ to Jodhpur as well as to Vadodara. In other notable firsts, Jet Airways is also set to commence flight operations between Chandigarh and Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Jodhpur as well as Vadodara and Jaipur. Jet Airways will be the only airline in the country operating these routes which will improve connectivity between north India and central as well as western India. Raj Sivakumar, Senior Vice President – Worldwide Sales & Distribution, Jet Airways, said, “As air travel gains prominence in emerging cities across India such as Indore, Jodhpur, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Vadodara, there is an increasing need to introduce connectivity solution for these cities. New flights, additional frequencies, greater capacity across more sectors are meant to offer our discerning guests additional choice, convenience, connectivity and superior comfort.”

GoAir is all set to commence its international flight operations by offering India’s first-ever direct service to Phuket, Thailand effective October 11, 2018 from Delhi and Mumbai. This will be followed by its second international service connecting Mumbai and Delhi with Male, Maldives effective October 14, 2018. These destinations will also be connected from Bengaluru in the near future. GoAir will continue to operate its A320 aircraft in all operations and on both these international routes. The airline will operate three direct flight services per week between Mumbai – Phuket – Mumbai at a return fare starting from Rs 18,999 (all inclusive); two direct flight services per week between Delhi – Phuket – Delhi at a return fare starting from Rs 18,999 (all inclusive). Similarly the airline will operate three direct flight services per week between Mumbai – Male – Mumbai at a return fare starting from Rs 17,999 (all inclusive); 2 direct flight services per week between Delhi – Male – Delhi at a return fare starting from Rs 18,999 (all inclusive). Commenting on the launch of their international operations, Cornelis Vrieswijk, CEO, GoAir said, “Phuket and Male are key tourist destination and hold a lot of promise. As an LCC, we have always strived to offer the best value for money to our customers and now we extend this proposition to the international traveller as well. The international schedules have been planned to allow quick and convenient connections for customers and is a reflection of our continued journey towards excellence.”    

In line with industry growth and strong demand for skilled professionals, the Centre of Learning, a Thomas Cook initiative, has seen a 35 per cent YoY growth in its diploma students and a placement of 76 per cent. Mona Cheriyan, President & Group Head – Human Resources, Thomas Cook (India), said, “In the context of high growth and increasing customer expectations, talent management is one of the critical challenges that the travel industry faces. This relates to both shortage of actual numbers and the desired capability levels- from a technical and managerial perspective. We are hence proud of our achievement in bridging the gap by building a resource pool of skilled travel professionals for the sector. What is noteworthy is that our efforts are equipping entrants with both academic knowledge and practical skills via on-the-job training.” At its seventh Convocation Ceremony held in Mumbai, the Thomas Cook Centre of Learning felicitated a strong contingent of over 300 students who had successfully completed courses across the Travel Professional Programme – a Post Graduate Course in Travel & Tourism Management, Certificate Course in Travel and Tourism Management, Certificate Course in World Tour Management and IATA Foundation in Travel and Tourism. Scholarship certificates and special prizes were awarded to top performers of Centre of Learning’s Travel Professional Programme – a Post Graduate course in Travel & Tourism Management & Certificate Course in Travel and Tourism Management.    

Mumbai is leading in terms of hotel occupancy (74.2%) as per a report by HVS Global Hospitality Services. According to the report as expected in the second year of the up-cycle, all major markets tracked  witnessed an increase in Revenue per available room (RevPAR) except for Agra. Interesting to note, Noida saw the highest year-on-year growth in RevPAR (16.0 %), followed by Hyderabad (11.4%) and Ahmedabad (10.7%). Noida displayed the lowest occupancy (56.9%) and Ahmedabad, the lowest average rate (3,840), the study said. All 13 hotel markets depicted an increase in occupancy leaving Pune (-0.7%), even as some markets saw a lower growth (Bengaluru and Mumbai at 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively) compared to others (Ahmedabad and Noida at 12.0% and 11.7%, respectively). In 2016/17, only two cities showed a decline in average rates – Agra, which witnessed a steep decline of 8.9% over 2015/16 and, Ahmedabad, which witnessed a minor decline of 1.1%. Goa registered the highest yearon-year increase of 7.3% in average rate, followed by Pune (5.7%).

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has announced to roll out the facility of Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) to the nationals of South Korea with effect from October 1, 2018. The facility will be available with double entry for a period of 60 days for business, tourism, conference and medical purposes at the country’s six major international airports which are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.  

Cholada Siddhivarn has been appointed as Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Mumbai. She and her team in Mumbai will cover western and southern India as well as Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The announcement was made at a recently held Open to the New Shades networking dinner in Mumbai. Siddhivarn was previously the director of Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Americas Marketing Group at TAT head office. She has been working with Tourism Authority of Thailand over 20 years now. With such a vast experience, Siddhivarn will continue to enhance travel trade and media relations in order to promote newer destinations in Thailand and boosting arrivals from India to Thailand in the coming years. Talking on the occasion, Siddhivarn quoted, “I am very excited to take up this new opportunity and starting a fresh in the city of dreams – Mumbai. India is a very important country for Thailand in terms of tourism as well as trade. I look forward to encouraging women travellers, showcasing local experiences at the destination and boosting arrivals from India”. She considers India to be one of the important markets for Thailand and hopes to showcase different aspects of Thailand to the Indian traveller.